Turbo is yet another CG enhanced toon--it placed behind the Gru Crew in the CG toon sequel Despicable Me 2. And then the super-natural action adventure R.I.P.D. is the latest tentpole of Summer 2013 to bottom out--right outta the gate. The star packed sequel Red 2 was also pretty weak--going up against director James Wan's latest scare-fest The Conjuring doing bloody good biz to sit at #1
Pamela McClintock of THR:
Marking another blow for Hollywood's tentpole strategy, New Line's $20 million horror pic The Conjuring raced to a $41.5 million North American debut, while R.I.P.D. limped to a seventh-place finish despite costing at least $130 million to produce.
The Conjuring, directed by horror maestro James Wan, did far better than expected and is a major win for New Line and Warner Bros. The R-rated movie, earning an A- CinemaScore, stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as paranormal investigators who help a family terrorized by a dark force. Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor also star.
R.I.P.D., from Universal, opened to a dismal $12.8 million domestically. Robert Schwentke's action-comedy is the summer's latest big-budget bomb, and stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as deceased police officers who must protect the living from evil spirits who refuse to move on. The pic, drawing comparisons to Men in Black, earned a C+ CinemaScore.
Universal can certainly withstand a financial hit, considering the profits it will earn from summer megahits Fast & Furious 6 and Despicable Me 2. The studio is celebrating reaching $1 billion in domestic ticket sales over the weekend, reaching the milestone faster than in any a previous year. And once the studio saw that R.I.P.D. was in trouble, it scaled back its marketing spend.
R.I.P.D. wasn't the weekend's only disappointment as both Turbo and Red 2 underperformed in their domestic openings.
Turbo, facing an unprecedented glut of animated product, grossed $21.5 million for the weekend to come in No. 3 and $31.2 million for the five-day stretch (it opened on Wednesday). From DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox, Turbo marks one of the lowest domestic openings for a DWA title and lost the weekend itself to megahit Despicable 2.
It is, however, off to a strong start overseas, grossing $22.6 million from 28 international territories representing 25 percent of the marketplace.
Despicable 2 came in No. 2 in its third weekend, grossing a sensational $25.1 million for a domestic total of $276.1 million. Overseas, it took in another $35.4 million from 50 territories, pushing its international total north of $300 million to $308.4 million and worldwide total to $584.6 million.
Turbo opens only two weeks after Despicable Me 2 and four weeks after Monsters University. Fox is counting on Turbo to have strong legs, noting that it received a glowing A CinemaScore and an A+ from moviegoers under age 18.
The film, directed by David Soren and costing $135 million to produce, is about an ordinary garden snail whose dream of racing in the Indianapolis 500 comes true. Reynolds voices the title role; Paul Giamatti, Snoop Dogg, Michael Pena, Maya Rudolph, Michelle Rodriguez and Samuel L. Jackson also lend their voices. DWA is playing up the fact that Turbo is an original story.
Red 2 opened to $18.4 million to come in No. 5, not enough to match the $21.7 million opening of Red in 2010. Summit made a major gamble in moving the sequel to the summer; Red launched in October. The follow-up cost $84 million to produce.
Red 2's impressive cast includes Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The movie earned a B+ CinemaScore.
Schwentke directed 2010's Red, which grossed nearly $200 million worldwide; Dean Parisot is in the director's chair this time.
Among holdovers, Guillermo del Toro's big-budget miss Pacific Rim tumbed 57 percent its is second weekend, grossing $16 million for a domestic total of $68.2 million
At the specialty box office, Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate's Girl Most Likely, starring Kristen Wiig, debuted to $736,005 from 353 screens for a location average of $2, 085.
Next Up: Hugh Jackman returns as clawed hero "The Wolverine" in a solo movie before showing up in 2014's reunion sequel--Bryan Singer's "X-Men: Days of Future Past".
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